Spanning eleven films and five TV series (six if you include the animated series), Star Trek has a vast wealth of stories to choose from. From scientific anomalies to epic space battles, time travel to alternate realities, Star Trek has covered every spectrum of sci-fi. And throughout these stories there are many jaw-dropping momentswhen for one minute everything is turned on its head. That is the art of the true WTF moment. Its not just a scene where something big happens. Its the unpredictable moment when you as the audience are blind-sided. Its the moment when you ask did that really just happen? And Star Trek has had plenty of them! And a note of warning. I write this assuming you have seen Star Trek Into Darkness.
10. Population Approximately Nine Billion All Borg
Star Trek First Contact took an iconic villain from the Next Generation TV series and made one of the best Star Trek films of them all. There are plenty of dramatic moments. The Borg Queen reveal. Picards confrontations with Worf and Lilly over his actions. The Deflector dish battle. Data turning traitor. But none are really drop-dropping moments. Not on the scale of this one. The moment the Enterprise, on the back of the battle with the Borg, discovers the Earth has been assimilated. Now sure, it was revealed in the trailerso you could argue, was it a WTF moment at all? But think about it. After the shocks and jumps of Picards Borg influenced nightmares and the epic battle at Sector 001, in which the captain rallies the surviving ships to destroy the Borg Cubethe crew discover that Earth has been altered. As Data utters the words populationapproximately nine billionall Borg, we realise the Borg have won. This isnt higher on the list purely for the fact that the trailer for First Contact reveals this very moment. But from a narrative viewpoint, and playing devils advocate for those audience members who havent seen the trailer and/or want a great follow up to the epic Best of Both Worlds two-parter (which it most definitely is), this moment flips the entire film on its head. The Enterprise has already lost. Now they have to go back in time to undo the Borgs actions. Suddenly the stakes seem higher than ever
